Across the Universe(s)
by UA
Summary: The obligatory collection of Caryl drabbles. Multiple ratings and I won't rule out multiple universes, even though most of the ones I've written so far could conceivably fall somewhere within the show's timelines if we had nicer show runners, lol.
1. The skirt is supposed to be this short

**Imagine Daryl met up with Carol the night of Deanna's welcome party instead of hiding out with Eric and Aaron. Now picture our girl in something much sexier than what wardrobe outfitted her with for the soiree. Season 5.**

 **You're welcome.**

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xx1xx

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"The skirt is _supposed_ to be this short."

He's stalking around the bedroom like a tiger trapped in a gilded cage. With a fluid grace at odds with his fisted hands, the grim, straight line of his beautiful mouth.

He hasn't looked at her since she opened her door to his timid knock, quite literally stunned him into silence. That simply won't do. She persists, "Daryl, it's really not _that_ bad."

Blue eyes snap to hers, glitter with angst. With _heat._ Finally, he grows. "Take it off."

She smiles. Smirks really. " _Oh_ , _Pookie_. Only if you kiss me nicely first."

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 **xxxx**

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	2. How long have you been standing there?

**Carol's little 'come to Jesus' talk with Merle extended. Just a few important seconds. Season 3.**

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 **xx2xx**

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Merle grinned, slow, _easy_ , looked at her with that calculating gaze, stood. "Alright, Mouse."

A thin stretch of her lips and Carol did the same. She watched him, listened to the hollow drum of his arm against the bars as he disappeared deeper into the prison, and sighed, letting her shoulders, the bravado act drop. Awareness prickled the fine hairs of her neck, had her biting her lip as she turned to him. _Daryl_. "How long have you been standing there?"

His mouth twitched. His blue eyes shone with fondness and… _pride_? He dropped his arms. Dipped his chin. "Long enough."

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	3. I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid

**Set in Season 6. Daryl doesn't go after Dwight. He goes after Carol instead.**

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He's in her face, spitting mad, screaming like he hasn't done in a long time, _since_ _the_ _farm,_ and Carol takes it. She bears every harsh word, every dagger that strikes at the walls of ice around her heart, and she feels hairline cracks form in her resolve. "You shouldn't have come."

"Think I care 'bout some fuckin' letter?"

Raw hurt bleeds into his voice, softens his mouth, and dammit. She breaks. "I can't love you like I do. Daryl…I _can't_."

Daryl nods then. Soft. Steady. _Sure_.

"God. You already knew."

"I may be an idiot, but I'm not stupid."

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	4. Who gave you that black eye?

**This one is set at the prison. Early season 4, maybe even those months in between the end of season 3 and 4 that we didn't see on-screen. Back when the prison was a place of happiness for them again and full of promise.**

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 **xx4xx**

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"Hey **."**

His voice is soft, _gruff_ as it greets her, and Carol whirls around with a ready, happy smile on her face. It quickly vanishes. "Who gave you that black eye?"

He smirks at the accusation in her voice, the fierce protectiveness. Shrugs off her concern. "S'nothing. Kid with the glasses is a shit basketball player."

Her hand hovers in the air between them. "Patrick did this?"

"Elbows of steel." He grunts.

She probes the injury with gentle fingers.

He winces. But he doesn't flinch. Not even once.

Satisfied, she smiles again, affectionately pats his cheek. "Looks like you'll live."

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	5. You haven't even touched your food

**This could be set anytime really, but let's say Season 7B. During that rumored dinner. Spoilers, maybe. But only in the vaguest, wishful thinking sense. **

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xx5xx

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He's _different_ somehow.

She can't explain it.

Still quiet, a man of carefully parsed words. Still strong, carrying the burden of this terrible world on his broad shoulders. Still damaged, just as beautifully broken.

She can't puzzle it out. It fills her mouth with questions that she doesn't ask. So she fusses, she chides, she sighs. "You haven't even touched your food. What's going on?"

He swallows, shakes his head, lifts the fork in his hand. Chews carefully.

His eyes never leave hers, though, so blue and so bright. So open and full, and she finally sees it.

Acceptance. _Love_.

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	6. I just like proving you wrong

**It's all suggestion. Mostly. Oh, hell. It's not as explicit as some stuff I've read. Like I said. I'm mostly rating it M to be safe. No specific body parts are mentioned, but it doesn't take Sherlock to tell what Daryl's been doing, okay?**

 **Season 3. How that scene on the bus could have gone. You know the one.**

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xx6xx

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She's weak, her bones cooling liquid fire, little earthquakes still rumbling everywhere just beneath her skin, when the stars behind her lids start to fade and the real world starts to spin back into focus. The restless groans of the dead beyond the prison yard. The low murmurs at the glowing campfire. Still. "What was _that_?"

Hungry blue eyes stare up at her. Glistening lips part in a wolfish smile. Calloused hands catch, drag along her shivery skin, behind her knees, work her legs wider so his broad shoulders can disappear between them again. "I just like proving you wrong."

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xxxxx

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	7. Everybody keeps telling me

**So…this little scenario is about as likely as us seeing purple zombie unicorns on the show, lol. And yet, I wrote it. *shrugs* I've jumped off the deep end in the effort to vanquish the writer's block that's totally sidetracked all of my other stories. I keep hoping if I just continue writing the words will start flowing more naturally, but I'm not sure it's working out so well. It's becoming more and more apparent that I am terrible at this, haha. If there's any silver lining, though, I am not a quitter. Just a shelver that has a love/hate relationship with writing.**

 **Eh, that made much more sense in my head.**

 **This little installment takes place in Season 1. At the CDC after the kids and everybody else are in bed, and Carol and Daryl both have indulged a bit.**

 **Enjoy.**

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 **xx7xx**

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She finds him in the shower room. Cloaked in steam. _Stripped_ _bare_.

His body is a network of interlocking scars. Secret keepers of another life.

She knows that life. She _lived_ it. Until he handed her that pick ax, granted her the means to finally cast it to Hell.

His shoulders stiffen as she pads closer, his arm braces against the tiled wall. His head bows. "Just gonna stand there? Stare?"

She joins him, mouths the demons on his back. "Everyone keeps telling me you're the bad guy."

"You believe 'em?"

Her fingers kiss his, curl around his cock. "No."

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	8. Forget it You f--king suck

**Season 5. Carol makes good on her promise to hose Daryl down. Thanks to a little help from Tara and Princess Leia (sorry, guys…Carrie's been on my mind), she finally convinces him to make good use of all that hot water in Alexandria.**

 **Oh, and the whole thing is dialogue. It's pretty easy to follow, though. At least *I* think so.**

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xx8xx

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"Forget it. You fucking suck."

"Don't be such a baby. The water wasn't even that cold."

"Weren't the one drowning in it."

"Stop pouting and take that shirt off. You're dripping all over the floor."

"No."

"Seriously?"

"No."

"What if I go first?"

"N-what?"

"Close your mouth, Pookie. You're catching flies."

"…"

"Cat got your tongue?"

" _Shit_."

"Like it? I told Tara it was a little too Princess Leia for my taste, but she insisted. And look. Matching panties."

"…"

"Oh, my. Looks like _somebody's_ a fan of the rebel princess. Water's hot, Han."

"Fuckin' hell. Love ya."

"I know."

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	9. Quit it or I'll bite

**I don't really care for this one. I tried to make it fun, but this happened. *shrugs***

 **Let's just set this one between seasons 3 and 4, when Daryl and Michonne were doing all that searching for the Governor. Pretend he and Carol are already in a romantic relationship, at least the beginnings of one, and he and Michonne run into trouble on this particular trip. Carol doesn't take it too well.**

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xx9xx

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She knows he's okay, _really_ okay, by the surly expression that sours his lips. Her exam is rough, business-like, until his fingers shackle her wrist.

"Stop."

"I'll get Hershel."

His vice grip tightens even more.

She glares at him. "Let go or I'll..."

"Knock me on my ass? Already happened once today. Fucker was bigger, meaner, _stronger_."

His blue eyes bore into her; her anger is irrational, _immediate._ She's elbows, bared teeth, stinging palms, _tears._

"Quit it or I'll bite."

She struggles.

He holds on, catches her trembling lip between his teeth. Bites it. Soothes it. _Her_. "Jesus. Fuck. M'sorry."

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	10. If you use up all the hot water again

This one's a little silly, lol, but I hope you like it. It's set in Season 6 and assumes that Daryl and Carol grew closer instead of far apart, and everybody's pretty happy. Except for poor Glenn.

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xx10xx

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"If you use up all the hot water again, I swear to God! You're on the couch for a month!"

With that, a door slammed down the hall, the latest casualty of Maggie's raging pregnancy hormones. Somewhere, Judith started to cry. Through the open bedroom window, Abraham could be heard doling out a little helpful advice, as only he could.

"Tread lightly, Kemosabe. She'll feed you your own nuts for dinner."

Digging her fingers into Daryl's waist, Carol lifted her head from his chest. "Think we should confess, Pookie?"

Daryl snorted. "Fuck, no. Like my nuts exactly where they are."

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	11. If I die, I'm going to haunt your ass

**So…I debated on the best point to set this one. And I decided it should be sometime between seasons 2 and 3. Because there's certain things I just feel like Carol would know in later seasons that she would only guess about in earlier seasons. It's cracky ( _are_ _you_ _really_ _surprised, lol),_ because they were always moving in that time period and they had more important things to worry about, but who doesn't enjoy a little crack now and then? **

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**xx11xx**

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"If I die, I'm going to haunt your ass."

Carol crossed her arms, gave him her best squinty-eyed glare, but he wasn't looking at her. That wasn't actually a bad thing. Because, as he twisted this way and that, held on to the window frame with grimy, bitten nails, she was too fixated on the pale sliver of skin calling to her when his shirt rode up, the tantalizing trail of hair disappearing into his loose pants, and holy hell. She was right: Daryl Dixon went _commando_.

"Here. Your Hell beast."

The wet furball squeaked pitifully. Purred.

Carol melted. " _Oh_."

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 **xxxxx**

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	12. I'm pregnant

**So…I don't like this one at all, lol, but I'm going to post it anyway. Maybe I'll redo this prompt at a later date. Who knows?**

 **Imagine Daryl didn't escape the ruins of the prison with Beth but took Tyreese's place instead and made it out with the girls. Then he ran into Carol. Season 4.**

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 **xx12xx**

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Fate intervenes, reunites them, and he crushes her to him, so tight their hearts beat as one.

There isn't time, though. Never is.

Walkers come and he covers her, the girls, and they run. Miles between them and the prison 'til the smoke thins, the sun lowers, the moon rises high over the tracks.

Mika and Lizzie curl between them. Snug against his chest, Judith sleeps.

He watches. For the dead. Trouble. Any sign she wants to talk. He waits. Finally, he asks, "Why? Told Rick you had a reason, but…"

"Daryl." Shiny-eyed, she reaches for him. Nods. "I'm pregnant."

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 **xxxxx**

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	13. Looks like we're gonna be stuck here

**Let's see. I'm going to go with Season 3 with this one, because baby girl discovered her powers and her confidence then, and Daryl seemed to be most comfortable there. They were at their teasing best then and in early season 4.**

 **Daryl and Carol wait out a rainstorm.**

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 **xx13xx**

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"Looks like we're gonna be stuck here for a while."

The heavy curtain falls back into place, plunging them into claustrophobic darkness. Thunder rolls and echoes overhead, drowning out the milling monsters' moans.

Carol can't control the shivers that snake up her spine nor the chattering of her teeth. She numbly clenches the musty blanket around her shoulders and prays for the storm to end soon, leans into Daryl when the bed dips beneath his solid weight. Thankfully, he allows it.

"Ya cold?"

"Hmm. You?"

"Fuckin' freezin'," he growls.

"Daryl? Since it's not raining sleeping bags…"

He snorts. "C'mere, Woman."

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 **xxxxx**

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	14. Take It Off

**Direct follow-up to "The skirt is supposed to be this short." Season 5. Carol raises the stakes.**

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 **xx14xx**

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"The hell you say?"

Carol's lips twitch, and she folds her arms beneath her breasts. When Daryl's gaze flickers not-so-discreetly to her cleavage, her grin stretches wide. "I think you heard me just fine." She takes a step closer to him, then another and another until they are toe to toe, and she delights in the scarlet flush of his cheeks, the flare of his nostrils, his blown pupils. "What about my shirt? You like it? Tara picked it out."

"Fuck, Woman."

"We could, Pookie. Skip the party. Stay here. Screw around. Just say the magic words."

"Take. It. Off."

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 **xxxxx**

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	15. Well, you're coming home with me

**Season 4. Suppose Daryl found out that Rick banished Carol just a few hours earlier, before the Governor's attack, and he goes after her.**

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 **xx15xx**

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It takes him less than a week to track her down.

"Didn't make it easy on me." There's pride in his gruff voice, newfound respect in his blue eyes.

She deserves neither. "You wasted a trip, Daryl."

He's unbothered by her claim, matching each step she takes in silence, his crossbow slung easily over his shoulder.

"Rick doesn't want me there."

"Well, it ain't up to him."

"It _is_."

"Fuck that. The rest have their own say. They'll…"

"…just take his side."

"You don't know that."

"I _do_."

"Well, you're coming home with me whether you like it or not."

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 **xxxxx**

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	16. I'll kick his ass if you want me to

**This one's total crack, lol. It can read as a happier extension, years later, to "I'm pregnant." It operates on the assumption that Carol, Daryl, and the girls eventually made it to Alexandria (go with it, lol) and that they miraculously crossed paths with their friends again. Rick succumbed to his prison battle injuries in that house and Michonne and Carl pretty much adopted each other.**

 **See? Complete and utter crack.**

 **Enjoy.**

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 **xx16xx**

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There's this nursery rhyme that always used to make Sophia giggle. About this old woman that lived in a shoe.

Carol feels like that woman right now. This house in Alexandria? Definitely one of Daryl's stinky boots.

" _That_ looks serious."

Rose and Jude streak through the kitchen, pigtails flying, Hershey hot on their heels.

Michonne dodges them, frowns. "Carol?"

Carol drops the curtain on Daryl and Lizzie's Dixon version of the _oh_ - _shit, I'm sorry_ chat, nods at Mika and Sam, feigning ignorance at the table. "Know where Carl's hiding?"

"He didn't!"

"…"

"I'll kick his ass if you want me to."

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	17. Stop it! It tickles!

**Some post season 7 wishful thinking, lol. Daryl makes good on a long-forgotten promise. There's just one little problem.**

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 **xx17xx**

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The fighting's over, that piece of shit Negan's dead, and Daryl's right where he's fuckin' supposed to be: in Carol Peletier's bed.

Woman ain't moved for the better part of an hour, looking peaceful and pretty on his pillows while the sun and the smoke rise outside.

All freckles and scars, sweetness and strength, she sleeps. Barely stirs when he palms the warm weight of her breast, nuzzles her neck ( _she'd_ _liked_ _that_ _when_ _he_ _was_ _balls_ _deep_ , _held_ _him_ _close_ ), and he remembers a long-ago promise, smiles, descends.

She comes alive beneath him, erupts. Laughs. "Stop it! It tickles!"

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	18. It's okay to cry

**Setting this one post season 7, too. For reasons. I think you'll understand why when you read it.**

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 **xx18xx**

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When it finally happens, he's a fuckin' wreck. Trembling, whimpering, clinging to her like she'll disappear. _Like_ _she'll_ _run_. But the way she moves? The way she takes him inside her, deeper and deeper until all those damn clichés start to make sense? Running's the last thing on her mind.

She's slow and steady, _sweet_ in his lap. Her hands are gentle and giving, _patient_ in his hair. Her mouth is its own form of tender torture, _loving_.

Ain't a goddamn soul ever loved Daryl Dixon before. _Not_ _like_ _this_. His heart swells, aches, it…

"Shh. It's okay to cry…"

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	19. And that's how you ruin a life

**Hmm. Let's just say this one is set sometime late season 5, early 6. In which Glenn should really learn to knock, haha.**

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 **xx19xx**

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He's got her bent over the kitchen table, one hand fisted in her hair, the other palming her ass, and fuck if he's going to last much longer. His pants are shackled around his ankles, the buttons of his shirt scattered to hell. Sweat stings his eyes, crawls down his neck, slicks his spine, and her body gives around him, swallows him all sweet in a goddamn vice, and…

"Carol. You got any sug…"

She's contracting around him, and Glenn? The sonuvabitch is backpedaling so fuckin' fast, muttering up a blue streak.

"And _that's_ how you ruin a life. Congratulations."

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	20. D-Did you just make that noise?

**Set in those in-between months we didn't see following season 3, early season 4. Just your everyday council meeting. Tiny dose of oblivious (or is he?) Glenn.**

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 **xx20xx**

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Payback was a bitch.

Least that's what Merle always used to say when he was living, and Daryl? Well, he's coming around to seeing things his brother's way right quick because while the old man's talking 'bout seeds and how the hell they're going to feed everybody come winter, Daryl's focused on a _growing_ problem of his own. Then Sasha starts talking, and Carol's greedy little hand starts creepin' again, and he's fucked, all there is to it. He groans. _Growls._ Scares the shit out of the kid.

"D..did you just make that noise?"

That not-so-hidden smirk widens.

 _Payback_ , _Woman_.

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	21. He's a bad kisser

**Set between seasons 2 and 3. They got awfully comfortable around each other in those missing months. Just saying.**

 **Beth and Carl play a little game. Carol? Well, you'll see.**

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 **xx21xx**

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It's cold. Always is these days. Nothing between them and the dead but luck and their own wits, and Little Greene? Well, she's a kid, so's Carl. Still hanging on to hope, looking for distraction with kids' games. They're taking turns, telling two truths, a lie. Only, they ain't doing the telling themselves. Hell, that wouldn't be so bad. No. Carol's doing him. Something tells Daryl he's screwed.

"He only changes his socks twice a week."

Beth wrinkles her nose.

"He'll eat anything."

Lori grimaces. "Definitely true."

"He's a bad kisser."

T-Dog whoops.

Glenn holds out his hand. "Pay up."

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	22. You can scream if you want

**Season 4. Imagine things went differently. No Tyreese, no girls. No Beth fleeing with Daryl after the prison fell. Rick still banishes Carol. Daryl eventually stumbles upon the Claimers. But not before Carol has her own run-in with them.**

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 **xx22xx**

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"You can scream if you want."

Like a pack of hungry lions they converged on her, and Carol's nails bit painfully into the bark at her back, her fingers bruised around the handle of her knife.

"Awful generous of you, Len. Givin' her permission like that."

"Didn't your mama ever teach you not to play with your food?"

"Good one, Harley."

"That's a sweet knife you got there, Lady. _Claimed_."

"Sweet ass, sweet little tits, sweet knife. All mine, Billy," Len argued. "You tell 'em, Sweetheart."

Blue eyes defiant, Carol lifted her chin as the first bolt sailed. "Not yours."

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	23. I didn't know we were keeping track

**Hmm. Let's just say this one takes place in the latter place of season 7. Although, it *could* take place earlier than that. Nah, 7B it is.**

 **Carol and Daryl have a conversation by firelight. It goes like this.**

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 **xx23xx**

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"Mika was my fault, too."

Firelight flickers, paints her face in shadows, but Daryl hears the guilt in her voice, the sheer pain. "No. She weren't."

"She _was_."

"Only thing you's responsible for is saving Ass-Kicker." Her eyes are bright in the orange light, a shimmer of disbelief, denial, doubt, and dammit. That just won't do. "You saved Maggie from those Saviors. Alexandria from those fuckin' Wolves. Whole damn lot of us at Terminus. Hell, Woman. You saved us at the CDC. Probably some other times you ain't admittin' to."

"I didn't know we were keeping track."

"Of you? Always."

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	24. We're playing checkers If you

**Look! Another crack fic, lol.**

 **Hmm. Let's say this one takes place in Season 6. And things are good. Peaceful. Newly established Caryl.**

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 **xx24xx**

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"We're playing checkers. If you don't like it, leave."

Woman's pissed, and if it's one thing Daryl's learned since they've been _together,_ it's not to push his luck. But still. "Need to talk to you."

"Tough."

Eric looks amused.

Aaron ain't looking no way. Won't even risk a look in his direction (s _ome_ _friend_ _he_ _is_ ). Daryl's had enough. "Carol."

Eric pushes back from the kitchen table, grabs Aaron by the hand, tugs him along. "Sorry, but that's our cue."

She huffs, _pouts,_ and it's fucking adorable, what it is.

Daryl sits. Sighs. "You win. We can keep the dog."

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	25. One of them's missing

**Hmm. I'm going with Season 5/Season 6 for this one. With a little added twist at the end.**

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 **xx25xx**

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"One of them's missing."

Carl looked up from the book he was reading to his baby sister, and Judith? She just stared at Carol with her big Lori eyes, her pacifier chug-chugging away. "One of what?"

Carol nodded at the rack of cooling cookies, her blue eyes narrowed with suspicion. "The cookies. Actually, _two_ of them are missing. Something you want to tell me, Carl?"

Carl frowned. "Don't look at me."

Michonne smirked. "Think your cookie monster's outside."

Carol promptly marched herself to the porch, found her culprit red-handed. He wasn't alone. Sam was there, too. "Daryl Dixon."

"Carol Dixon."

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	26. Save Some for Me

**Not particularly fond of this one, but I'm posting it anyway.**

 **Post season 2/the fall of Hershel's farm. Carol and Daryl talk about a few late-night cravings.**

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 **xx26xx**

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Sometimes, when the growls of her empty stomach are louder than the growls of the dead, she plays a game, a silly one, and she makes him join in. Tonight, they've already made their way through the appetizers, the main course; she's dreaming up her favorite desserts, his arms wrapped tight around her ( _just_ _for_ _warmth_ , _that's all_ ), his mouth at her ear. "Death by Chocolate."

"Banana puddin'."

"Chocolate chip cookies."

"Warm apple pie."

"With ice cream?"

"Hell, yeah."

"Fudge."

"Chocolate pudding?"

She nods, thinks of her girl, meets Carl's sleepy blue eyes across the way.

"Save some for me."

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	27. Oh, fuck off!

**Season 3. Merle's ambush works, and the Governor dies. They start living instead of just surviving.**

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 **xx27xx**

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"Just sayin', Little Brother. Mouse ain't gonna stay single long. Pretty, feisty little thing like her," Merle paused for dramatic effect, licked his lips. "If the thing with Andrea don't work out…"

"Ain't no thing with you and Andrea, dumbass," Daryl muttered.

"Could be."

"Oh, fuck off," Daryl grumbled. "Got better things to do."

"Got ya another woman waitin' in the wings? That it? High time you joined this baby boom 'round here. Carried on the family name."

"Merle!"

"Fine. Suit yerself."

He left, finally, and two arms slid around Daryl, held tight.

"Think we should tell him?"

"Not yet."

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	28. You're still mad?

**Season 3. So…Daryl goes to Carol when he and Merle get back to the prison, not the other way around. They talk.**

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 **xx28xx**

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She's quiet, been that way since him and Merle got back, up here in her cell all by her lonesome.

Part of Daryl knows it's the shock of the fuckin' Governor's ambush, standing so close to death herself. But another part of him can't help but wonder. "You're still mad?"

Her arms tighten around her knees. Her eyes, big, blue, and bright with the promise of tears, stare up at him. Her trembling mouth attempts a smile. "I'm not mad. Just…"

He ducks his head, nods. He understands. He _does_. "Ain't your fault. Axel. You know?"

"Still feels like it."

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	29. Come over here and make me

**Season 1. Pretend Merle didn't get left in Atlanta and Daryl witnesses what goes down between Ed, Carol, and the rest of the ladies down at the quarry.**

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 **xx29xx**

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He's been watching her since Day 1.

The heavy curl of her thin shoulders, the timid tiptoe of her feet. The shy avoidance of her blue eyes when that fat fuck she's married to is looking.

Without a word passed between them, he _knows_ her. Recognizes the silent suffering. Reads the carefully hidden signs, watches out for her. Has been for a while now, and today? He's had enough. Can't watch that piece of shit husband of hers manhandle her one more time without doing something. "Leave her alone, you sonuvabitch."

"Come over here and make me."

"Be glad to."

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	30. You better watch yourself

**Daryl underestimates Carol. Set in that long winter between the Seasons 2 and 3.**

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 **xx30xx**

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It snows. For three miserable, godforsaken days.

One for the Georgia record books, the old man claims.

But Daryl's unimpressed. Hates the stuff. Never got the fuss. Lets everybody know it, too. So how does his ass end up ankle deep while snowballs whiz past his head? "Got a shit aim, Woman."

Carol's cheeks are pink. Her eyes bright, unwavering blue. She's _smiling_.

He's fuckin' melting, twenty degrees or not, so it's no wonder he misses it. The mischievous twinkle, the not-so-hidden hand-off from Carl. "Guess I deserved that."

Her giggles fade with his growled warning.

"You better watch yourself."

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	31. Eat your lunch and you wouldn't be

**A little AU where Carol and Daryl are busted by Sophia. Married or just seeing each other. Either works for this scenario, haha.**

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 **xx31xx**

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Sophia walks through the door, chattering a mile a minute, and they barely have time to pull apart, put certain _things_ back in place. "I'm starving!" Her backpack slides to the floor, and she flops dramatically between them. Almost immediately, her socked feet join Daryl's on the coffee table.

Carol clears her throat, and both sets of feet slowly withdraw. She glances at Daryl, smiles when he can't quite meet her eyes. "You've worked up an appetite, too?"

Realization slowly starts to dawn, and Sophia's nose crinkles. "Too? Mom, no. Ew. _Gross_."

"Eat your lunch and you wouldn't be hungry."

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	32. Why did we have to have kids?

**Another little fluffy AU for you guys. How do Carol and Daryl pass a stormy night?**

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 **xx32xx**

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"But Daddy."

Unmoved by their daughter's plea, Daryl fit his big hand over her glossy, pigtailed head, steered her toward the door. "Pick your lip up off the floor, Soph. Not tonight."

"Goes for you, too, Mister."

Sam smiled, slow and sleepy when she tugged at his toe, dropped a kiss in his hair. He didn't much care that it was storming, content to munch on his conned cookie.

Mika? She and the dog made one diagonal, snoring lump in the bed.

"Pookie."

Later, separated by a sea of little arms and feet…

"Why did we have to have kids?"

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	33. Call on Line !

**Carol's an ER nurse. She crosses paths with Daryl Dixon again in the most unexpected of ways.**

* * *

 **xx33xx**

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"Carol, hey."

"Bed 3 needs an X-ray of that arm. T around?"

"Jacqui paged him." Lori's long legs hurried to catch up with her as she weaved through the milling staff, the anxious family members. "Listen, you need to…"

Carol shook her head, darted in the supply room for splinting materials. _Out_. "No time. Doctor S coming in to help Doc Greene? We're swamped."

"We _are_ ," Lori agreed.

"You look pale. Something up?"

Lori snagged her hand, held tight.

"Lori."

"Peletier! Call on Line 1!"

"I really should…"

She saw him then, holding her baby girl.

"Daryl Dixon? _God_. Sophia?!"

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	34. He creeped me out I'm not gonna lie

**High school AU. Carol, Lori, and Andrea share a little conversation over lunch.**

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 **xx34xx**

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They were eating lunch at their usual table outside.

"He creeped me out. I'm not gonna lie."

Lori stopped poking her cherry jello with her fork to frown. "Who?"

"Zeke."

Andrea's daily show for Shane lost a little bit of steam as her interest refocused. "Drama Zeke?"

"Drama Zeke," Carol confirmed, abandoning any further attempts at taming her hopeless hair and hugging herself.

"He's kind of cute."

"Andrea, you think everybody's cute. You're a walking, talking hormone."

"Says the baby mama."

Carol groaned. "Again? Really?"

"Seriously."

"Sorry. _Interesting_."

Carol sighed. "Andrea."

"Zeke's creepy. But your boy Dixon isn't? Just clarifying."

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	35. I'm done You can fix it

**Sweet, fluffy mom and dad Caryl AU.**

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 **xx35xx**

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"That's it."

Carol palmed her smile, scooted over to make room for him when he flopped onto the couch beside her, all sprawling legs, disheveled dirty blond hair, traumatized blue eyes.

"I'm done. You can fix it."

She glanced at the half-finished dollhouse, looking more like a kid-size model of the Leaning Tower of Pisa than Barbie's Dreamhouse, and she couldn't help it. Laughter started to bubble up, joyous and light, and she was giddy as she dug her bare toes into the cushions, leaned over and kissed the grumpy line of her husband's mouth.

"Sophia's going to love it."

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	36. Can we just watch a movie and fall

**Season 5. The road from Grady to Alexandria isn't a short one.**

 **Carol's my favorite super-heroine, but you can't tell me she wasn't hurting, and you can't tell me Daryl ever let her far out of his sight. Just saying.**

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 **xx36xx**

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They leave Grady in their rear view. Push forward because swimming upstream is all they know. He can't help thinking they're only headed toward the mouth of a bigger beast, but that's life now. That's surviving. And fuck if he's going to lose somebody else he cares about.

"Can we just watch a movie and fall asleep on the couch?"

The road is rough. Overgrown. Each bounce a shuddering earthquake to her battered body. She cries. She moans. She mumbles fevered nonsense in his arms.

"She's delirious," Michonne tells him.

"Daryl?"

"M'here."

"I thought…"

"Shh."

"Love…you."

"But not a liar."

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	37. Where did he go?

**Hmm. Season 6-ish. Let's pretend we saw happier times like this. More bonding and lighthearted, drunken fun.**

 **In other words, crack.**

 **In which Shae outs herself as a gigantic sci-fi nerd, lol.**

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 **xx37xx**

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It's late, and Tara's intake of Eric and Aaron's moonshine stash has been a little _generous_ , to say the least.

"C'mon. Buffy's totally badass."

"When she's not being Cry-Buffy," Denise mutters.

"Heard that."

Maggie rolls her eyes at her husband, the whole lot of them, twirls her full glass.

"I got one," Eric announces. "Scully."

"Totally gay for Scully."

Carol smiles.

Tara grins back. "Y'know what I mean."

Aaron leans forward. "Ripley or Sarah Connor?"

Carol shrugs. "Both?"

"That's…not allowed."

"Hmm. Laura Roslin."

"Awesome. Right, Daryl?"

"Uh, guys. Where did he go?"

Later…

"Wanna _frell_? Think I prefer _frak."_

"Stahp."

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	38. You leave whenever you feel like it

**Season 7. 7B, to be precise. A little angsty what-if for episode 10.**

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 **xx38xx**

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He shows up on her doorstep, knuckles battered and bruised, blue eyes haunted, and he crushes her in his desperate embrace.

She feeds him dinner, nurses his wounds, offers him a guarded smile, holds him at arms' length. "Maybe you should go. Before it gets too late."

Softly, he asks, "That what you want?"

Doesn't matter what she wants, never really has. Painful, pretty lies fall from her lips. "It is. I'm just gonna…"

"Carol **."**

Her heart seizes, her lungs ache. "Daryl. Don't, okay?" She sighs. "You leave whenever you feel like it."

"I _know_."

"You don't."

"Feel it, too."

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	39. I forgot I was a single parent

**Another AU fluff piece. It's time to give Sophia the talk, but how do Carol and Daryl do that? Consider this their rehearsal**

 **P.S. This one's all dialogue, too.**

* * *

 **xx39xx**

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It goes something like this…

"Boy meets girl. Boy falls head over heels, stupid in love with girl."

"Making me sound like a pussy."

"You saying you didn't?"

"Jesus, Woman. Go on."

"Girl falls in love with boy, too."

"Beginning to wonder."

"Oh, shush. Where was I? Oh. Boy marries girl."

"After girl asks boy to."

"You know, I'm not one for labels or anything, but it's nice. You being sensitive. Secure in your masculinity. Not feeling threatened…"

"Carol!"

"Just saying."

"Ain't got all day. Can't you just tell her? 'Bout the birds…"

"I forgot I was a single parent."

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	40. Don't apologize if you don't mean it

**Season 6. The scene we didn't get to see before Carol moved in with Tobin.**

 **Yeah. I hate myself for this one, too.**

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 **xx40xx**

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He gets snakes in the pit of his belly whenever he sees the two of them together. Lead in the soles of his feet. So, when he overhears Rick and Michonne talking 'bout her moving in with the fucker, he snaps. Gets all up in her face about it, too, screams at her 'til he sees tiny cracks start to form in that brittle mask of hers, and now? Hell. If he can't have her, he wants her to be happy. Needs to know. But she ain't hearing it.

"Don't apologize if you don't mean it."

"Gonna change anything?"

"No."

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